The trade deadline has officially kicked in.
Chaim Bloom got things going heading into the Aug. 31 deadline by sending Brandon Workman, Heath Hembree and cash to the Phillies for pitchers Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold. According to Ken Rosenthal the financial return amounts to $815,000 with the two relievers sent by the Sox still owed $1.1 million.
The 27-year-old Pivetta has struggled in his three appearances this season (all in relief), giving up 10 runs in 5 2/3 innings. He had been a member of the Philadelphia starting rotation during 2017 and 2018, totaling a 7-14 mark with a 4.77 ERA in 32 starts two seasons ago. Last year the righty appeared in 30 games, making 12 starts on the way to a 5.38 ERA.
Seabold made seven starts in Double-A last season, managing a 2.25 ERA. The 24-year-old was originally a third-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft. (For more, click here to read Scott Lauber's feature on the minor-league starter.)
In a Zoom meeting with the media Friday night, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom explained that the Red Sox view Pivetta as a future part of the starting rotation despite the pitcher's previous struggles in the role.
"Obviously he has some major-league time under his belt," Bloom said. "He’s a big, physical power pitcher. He’s got a really good fastball, good breaking ball, he also has a changeup. A guy that’s shown the ability to carry a starter’s workload and a lot of the underlying traits that show the potential for a lot more success than he’s enjoyed in terms of his results. Again, a power pitcher that we think should be capable of holding down a rotation spot and we really feel like he’s a good fit going forward and we’ve got a chance to help him reach a level that he has not yet in his career despite the good stuff.
WHY TRADE NOW WITH 10 MORE DAY BEFORE THE DEADLINE?
"The timing of trades is not always something that you can foresee. Philly came hard after these two pitchers. They really wanted to complete something and any time you have a situation where you’ve got some time before the trade deadline, you’re not just looking at the trade in a vacuum, you’re also trying to think about what are the options that you can have between now and the deadline, and obviously that’s something we have to weigh, but we felt that this return was a really good fit for us, that we got two pitchers that not only fit an area of need but are also pitchers we like that can be part of this thing for many years. I thought that was worth doing right now."
WHY RED SOX THINK THEY CAN GET MORE OUT OF A PLAYER LIKE PIVETTA
"When I say that I have a lot of faith in our group here, but I also don’t want to imply that there is something that somebody else didn’t do that we’re going to magically figure out. We’re always trying those things. But in some cases, a change of scenery can help a player like this. In some cases, further opportunity can help a player like this. We have talked about it at different times. Sometimes results don’t go a player’s way because of things that are beyond their control, or even if there are things that they did control that you would expect would turn out differently. I think there is some of that here too. Sometimes it takes that change of scenery for a player to exhale and maybe be able to do something he couldn’t. Sometimes it’s just a chance of getting an opportunity in some way that maybe had run out somewhere else."
DID PHILLIES' RECENT BULLPEN COLLAPSE EXPEDITE THE DEAL?
"I don’t know that it’s productive for us to get too deep into another club’s head, but this was something that there had been talks ongoing. This wasn’t something that came out of the blue yesterday."
ON GETTING TWO PLAYERS WHO SHOULD HELP THE BIG LEAGUE CLUB SOONER RATHER THAN LATER